new life. new year. 2010 newborn promotion- newborn baby photographer Julie Allen

details-

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  session must take place between january 1st and april 30th
  
  
  
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  the optimal time to schedule your appointment is while you are still pregnant
  
  
  
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  newborn sessions are done while the baby is between 1 - 10 days old
  
  
  
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  if you refer a friend for one of these sessions, you and your friend will receive a $60 a la carte print credit (every referral earns you another $60 credit)
  
  
  
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  sessions that are scheduled before january 1st, 2010, will receive a set of 3- 3x3 mini albums
  
  
  
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  you can upgrade to a 9x9 album if you wish for an additional cost- just ask Julie
  
  
  
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  you can add a mini maternity session (at your home) on to your package for $75 (not including prints, order must be complete before newborn session)
  
  
  
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  fees are due when session is scheduled- you can pay 50% now and 50% later (non-refundable) or pay in full now
  
  
  
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  go here to pay for your session: new life new year promotion cart
  
  
  
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  you can pay by check, cash, or paypal
  
  
  

these are the beautiful 3x3 mini albums- perfect to gift to grandparents!

6x6 handcrafted album

newborn session details:

I do all my newborn sessions during the first 10 days of life.  I come to your house and do the session there.  I will use the available light in your house.  I encourage parents and siblings to get in some of the shots, but most of the session will be all about the new baby.  If you are pregnant now and due during the months of my promotion- now is the time to be calling me.  You can schedule your session tenatively by telling me your due date and paying your session fee.  I will put your due date on my calendar, but we will finalize the date and time after the baby arrives.   It is imperative that you call me as soon as the baby arrives so we can get your session in before the baby is over 10 days old. 

Newborn sessions typically last at least two hours and may go as long as four hours depending on the baby's needs.  I take breaks when needed so you can feed and change the baby.   I don't rush your session, I take my time to get lots of adorable shots of your newest treasure. 

 

After your session, I will put together an online gallery of your images for you to view.  Typically there will be 20-25 finished images.  The online gallery lasts 7 days and your order is due at the end of that time.  Ordering can be done online securely through my website or I can come to you and do your ordering in person (this can be helpful if you are not sure what sizes to order or just need a little more information about products).  The new life new year promotion includes a beautiful handcrafted 6x6 album (you will just have to pick 15 of your favorite pictures).  It also includes an 11x14 wall picture- you will have to pick out the pose you want for this. 

My Family- Michigan Family Portrait Photography, Julie Allen

I love my family, very much.  But if there is one thing I really don't look forward to each year, it is our annual family picture.  We have been doing an annual family picture every year since my son was a baby.  All our family lives in other states so it's important to them to get a picture of our family every year, because we don't get to see them very often.  Now our first family picture we had done at Sears.  Ethan was only about 2 months old.  The girls were 2 and 3.  We had our hands full, but we were so happy with our completed family.  This was before I found my calling as a photographer. 

The next year we did ourselves- well sort of.  We had a makeshift backdrop, and a tripod set-up with a not-so-great camera (a point-and-shoot).  A friend pushed the button for us.  The kids were 1, 3, and 4.  The following year was my first time to really do our family picture.  I was doing studio photography at that time, and joy of all joys, found a beautiful painted backdrop with a christmas scene on it.  Before you all gag- such things were popular back then!! lol!!  I was very happy with our picture that year.  We made it through the session without too many tears if I recall correctly which is always a success when you have a 2 year old, 4 year old, and 5 year old.  Hey they were all smiling and looking at the camera too!  I used a tripod and set my work camera on self timer. 

2006 we did another studio picture, this time with a white background.  I had a motorcycle accident just a few months before and so I remember this session was tricky because it was hard for me to keep jumping up and resetting the timer on the camera because of my injured knee.  This session have quite a few more tears as we have one daughter (who will remain nameless) who can never give a natural smile when faced with a camera.  My husband hates that!  Thus the tears.  The kids were 3,5, and 6.  This is also the picture that I had blown up huge and put on my wall in my livingroom.  I love it. 

In 2007 I was branching out more to the outdoors and starting to leave studio work behind.  So I did our picture outside in the fall at a beautiful cemetary.  Again using my trusty tripod and self-timer.  This session again had many tears as it was late in the day and again we have the child who doesn't like to smile natural, though this year her brother and sister were starting to have the same problem.  In fact it is Ethan who has the tear stained eyes and strained smile in this year's pictures.  Are you clueing in to the fact it is really hard to be the photographer and the mother at the same time? 

Somehow 2008 got away from us, and we ended up with a snow picture instead of a fall picture like I had planned on doing again.  It was November, cold, and had snowed the night before.  We planned our outfits to be warm, but you can never plan warm enough!  The kids were miserable and cold, even though we would keep running back to the van to warm up.  It took time to set up the tripod and camera, and once they were set up, the kids were cold.  I love the look of the cold November day in the pictures, but it would have been much more fun and easier to have just been the photographer (not having to use a tripod) instead of the mother also.  The kids were 5, 7, and 8 years old. 

Finally that brings us to 2009!  This year we decided to have some fun with our pictures and have a theme.  My daughter had just gotten a cute cowgirl outfit for her birthday so my husband thought it would be fun to do a western theme- complete with a horse!  I love him!!  I'm a cowgirl at heart so this was right up my alley.  We do not own horses, but we have friends who live in Clarkston with horses, so we asked if we could use one of their horses as a prop.  They were gracious and even helped with pushing the button on the camera so I didn't have to keep running back and forth to set the self-timer!  It's hard enough to take a picture of a family with three children, let alone add animals to the picture!  We even brought out our dog, Maci, at the end for a complete family picture.  She's part of the family now.  This year we didn't have any tears!  We had our share of blank stares and fake smiles, but we just kept shooting until the smiles appeared.  We also had a horse that turned away in some of the pictures, and a dog that wanted to see the horses instead of looking at the camera.  It didn't matter though, we just kept shooting.  Our kids are 6, 8, and 9 this year.  They are growing into real big people now (not that they weren't real people before- they were just little people).  Hard to believe how big they are getting. 

It amazes me to look on my "picture" wall and see each of those family pictures.  To see the progression of our family each year.  Chokes me up a bit, and I'm not an emotional person.  It doesn't bother me that we started out at Sears, or that my first few attempts were not award winning photography- they are pictures of my family, and I have a picture to remember what we looked like way back when.  Priceless!!

Please have fun looking over some of our favorite pictures for this year- if you want leave me a comment on why family pictures are important to you or share a funny picture story with me . . .

Thanks for looking!!

Brotherly Love- Michigan Family Photography, Julie Allen

Confession time!  This sneak peek is way overdue!  No excuse but my husband has been gone hunting 9 days out of the last 14.  It has been so nice to finally get some nice fall weather here and there in Michigan during the last couple weeks.   On one of these nice days I ran out with my next door neighbor, her children, and my three (remember my husband has been gone hunting, I don't normally bring them with me to take pictures) to do a family session of her kids to update her walls and for Christmas. 

Can I just tell you how nice it is to have wonderful neighbors?!!  We live in a wonderful subdivision in Davison, and we are really blessed to have wonderful neighbors everywhere!  But our next door neighbors are special to me.  Their daughter is like my third daughter.  She is best friends with my girls and over at my house all the time.  She get's my children to do their homework, to play school during the summer, and dreams of being a teacher like her mom and dad.  Their son is a great role model in the neighborhood.  He plays tough with my son which is great when my 6 yr old needs to get some energy out.  It's a boy thing!  He introduced our kids to the world of skimboards this past summer.  He spent so many hours making skimboards with his dad, and then many more with all the kids enjoying all his creative skimboards!   Just great kids. 

Well even though this is overdue and I have written a book now- please enjoy this sneak peek . . .

Sweet little one- Michigan Custom Newborn Baby Photography . . .

I love babies.  I love the way they smell.  I love the way it feels to hold them.  I love the sweet noises that they make.  I love all their tiny features.  I miss when my children were newborns.  That time in my life flew by so fast, it's hard to remember what it was like.  The middle of the night feedings, the numerous diaper changes, and all those beforementioned wonderful things.  I sincerely wish I had known to hire a photographer to capture newborn pictures of my children, because I have hardly any pictures of this stage and I was not yet a photographer when my children were babies.

I have the perfect job.  Yesterday I was able to spend a little bit of time in Davison, Michigan with a precious newborn baby.  As with all my newborn photography sessions, I went to his house for the session.  He was just perfect.  He slept like an angel and we were able to get some beautiful images of this stage of his life.  Something his parents and siblings can look back on in 5 years and say, "remember when he was so tiny?"

If this family gets 25 individual comments (one per person please) on this sneak peek they will receive 8 free wallets!  Enjoy!

Don't forget to leave a comment on here for this family and help them earn 8-wallets!

One comment per person please!